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'Legislative fix' needed to help school districts do more homework on potential employees, DA says

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Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico says a Ã¢ÂÂlegislative fixÃ¢ÂÂ might be necessary to give districts more information on potential teachers and administrators before making a hiring decision. (File photo)
(Mark Pynes | mpynes@pennlive.com)

The recommendation — which involved having districts seek out job candidates’ personnel files — came out of a grand jury investigation on the district’s handling of so-called rumors of inappropriate contact between a female student and former Susquehanna Township High School Assistant Principal Shawn Sharkey.

Sharkey is facing sex-crime charges in a related case involving that student, according to police and court documents.

Sharkey’s file from his previous job at the School District of Philadelphia didn’t show any sexual misconduct, but it had information that could have caused local school officials not to hire him, according to the grand jury report.

Marsico said the grand jury recommended obtaining personnel files to get school officials hiring educators to “do more homework than was done in this case.”

But Marsico said, “we’re not experts in labor law,” and the district’s interim solicitor Jeffrey Engle — who advised pulling the recommended policy because of liability issues — is “well versed in the intricacies of school and labor law.”

“The thrust of the grand jury report in that regard was to do more homework and find out how somebody performed at another school district,” Marsico said. “The grand jury believed getting a personnel file … was a good way of doing that. I’m sure there are other ways.”

One way could come from a “pass the trash” legislation working its way through the state House, Marsico said.

The bill would require prospective employees in school positions that work directly with children to disclose whether they had been the subject of a sexual misconduct investigation or disciplined or discharged while being investigated for such activity.

The school district also would have to contact past employers concerning any history of investigations or allegations concerning abuse or sexual misconduct.

The goal, sponsors say, is to stop teachers and other employees from getting hired in one district after resigning in another district. It also would ban schools from cutting a deal “to maintain the confidentiality of findings or allegations of abuse against a current or former staff member.”

The state House passed an amendment Tuesday on that legislation that would require the Department of Education to serve as a clearinghouse for any new hires, by cross-referencing all publicly available databases. This would eliminate some of the concern districts have expressed about not being able to find some records.

It appears the best chance for the legislation to become law is for the Senate to take up the House version, but it would do so on its own timeline.

Assuming the House passes the bill this week, “the Senate will begin its review immediately,” Erik Arneson, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware County, said via email.

“At this point, we don’t have a specific timeframe established, although it’s clear the Senate supports the concept,” Arneson said.

Sen. Rob Teplitz, D-Dauphin County, agreed.

But Teplitz — who’s also the father of a third-grader in Susquehanna Township School District — said he was “disappointed” to see board members rescind the hiring policy Monday night.

Teplitz, like Marsico, said he wasn’t a labor law expert. He also didn’t want to be critical of district’s interim solicitor.

“It’s important to be mindful that the district largely got into this mess in the first place because of bad legal advice,” Teplitz said. “If they are going to rescind a policy that was recommended by a grand jury and was intended to protect children, they better be absolutely sure that there is no other alternative. And they should be working on finding a way, if that is the case, within current labor laws to get to the same results.”

The grand jury believed school officials should have reported to police, but their failure to do so was mitigated by the fact they were relying on their solicitor’s legal advice to hold off reporting, according to a grand jury foreman.

Though, Teplitz added if the “pass the trash” legislation passes, the district’s rescinded hiring policy would be a “moot issue” as school districts statewide would be required to obtain more information on prospective candidates.

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